Finding Innocence
by Amun-Ra1
Summary: The group find a young boy in an abandoned church all by himself. They debate if this baggage will be worth it, or if they should abandon him. In the midst of the chaos, Zoey becomes attached to the boy, and the boy attached to Zoey.
1. Chapter 1

Here, just something I thought of while flipping though my… adult… pictures in my computer, a few of which involved Zoey. I might even add an… adult… scene later if you want. It would touch a subject that… well… let's just say some wouldn't like that part of my story. I'll add it on request later.

And no I don't live in any of the locations mentioned, and the boy is not based off of me. I live in the North-West part of the United States, and I have a lighter shade of brown for my hair. I'm also much older.

****

The survivors couldn't believe their luck. A Semi-Truck! When Francis decided to attempt to rev up one last vehicle, after all the others didn't do anything, they finally hit the jackpot. Now they were one step closer to getting to safety… if there was any left. None the less, there's got to be a safer place than Philadelphia. What's even more lucky, is that this semi was going to fill a store with apple juice, Havarti cheese and 'Chicken in a Biscuit', a sort of cracker that had a flavor like chicken broth.

Going directly north, they were surprised at how far the semi went. Francis, who was given the honor of driving the semi, didn't dare stop at a gas station, even the functional ones. They had reached 200 miles when the gas meter read 'empty'. "You know… I read once that some cars go nearly 100 miles after their tank reads empty. I'm sure it's the same for trucks…" Zoeysaid nervously. "… I hope."

Luckily she was right. They were in the middle of a city called 'Fort Wayne' near a small church when the semi slowed to a stop. First thing they noticed was a large pile of infected bodies lying near the broken down church door, the bullet holes riddling the walls, and several fresh graves off to the side.  
"Wow, looks like someone cleared the area out for us." Bill said with a sigh. He really didn't want to be driven smack dab into a hoard. "Let's go in and see if there's anyone still alive."

Getting out of the truck, the four slowly crept though the door of the church. "Hold on, guys, I think I hear a witch." Louis said as he stretched an arm out, blocking the others from moving forward. There was a moment of silence between the 4 as they listened to the sound of crying coming from deeper in the church. "… I don't think that's a witch." Zoey spoke up. "It sounds like a boy. There are no boy witches." Francis pulled both his pistols out of his jacket. "I dunno, but after all the shit we've been though, I'm starting to think anything is possible. I'm going in, and if it even looks at me funny, I'm firing." Zoey grabbed Francis, pulling him back. "No, I'll go first. I don't want you doing anything rash." "Fine, but if you die, don't blame it on me. "

Zoey lead them into the church. The pews were stacked like barriers, and a few were being used as tables to hold ammo and food. There were bodies lying everywhere, both infected and non-infected. With the non-infected there were weapons lying besides them. Many were moved to the corner and covered with black cloth. "Seems like there was quite a last stand in here. I don't see any survivors, though…" Bill said picking up a fancy pistol gripped in the hand of a deceased survivor. Francis sat down on one of the pews and slouched down. "I hate churches."Zoey stopped, and then turned around. "Guys, I want you to wait here. I hear the crying coming from the bathroom." Bill joined Francis and opened up his juice filled canteen. "Fine… butZoey, please don't get yourself killed."

Zoey opened the door to the men's restroom slowly, and peaked her head in. She heard the sound of a young boy crying coming from one of the stalls. "No... please, bring them back... I don't want to be alone... bring them back..." Zoey was sure now that it was human, so she called out gently, "Hello? Are you hurt? Do you need he-" her words were interrupted when the boy made a loud scream. Zoey was startled and flinched, and a panicked scuffling was heard from the farthest stall. Zoey waited a second, then walked forward and opened the stall.

The boy was about 12 or 13, was short, she assumed about 5'3', had dark brown hair and deep green eyes. His shirt was ripped off, reviling his scrawny, starved body. His face was soaked with tears, like he had been crying for days. His eyes were blood shot and his hair messed up. He was sitting on a toilet in the fetal position, muttering to himself. "Come here, it's alright... I'm not here to hurt you..." the child drew back and whimpered. Zoey was hurt that such a child had to be in such a situation, and wanted desperately to gain his trust. "It's going to be alright now," Zoey said as she neeled down to his height. "I'm here now..." She leaned forward , grabbed his head, and did something that was truly human... she kissed his forehead. After that, the boy slowed his wimpering down. Zoey picked the boy up, sat down on the seat, and set him down on her lap. The boy buried his face into her chest and sobbed.

"I'm here for you now... everything is going to be alright.


	2. Chapter 2

Yes, I know my grammar sucks. But hey, at least I'm creative.

I've decided to keep this a hurt/comfort thing with a sibling relationship instead of some creepy romance. I feel that's what more people want.

Enjoy.

***

Louis looked down at his designer solar powered watch. "She's been in there for five minutes now. Should we go and-"

"Not yet," Bill said, closing up his canteen, "I trust her. She'll be out soon."  
As if on cue, Zoey opened up the bathroom door and came out. Francis stood up and turned his head towards Zoey. "Ah, 'bout time you came… out?"

The group was shocked at the specimen that Zoey had brought out of the bathroom. "Hey guys, I want you to meet someone. I'm hoping we can take him along with us." Zoey was holding this young boy's hand, walking along towards them with him.

"Whoa, whoa," Bill said as he grabbed Zoey by the shoulder, leaving the boy back near the door. "Guys, over here. We need to plan things though. Huddle up."

The group got into a tight circle and started whispering to each other. "I knew it was going to be something like this when you said it was a boy. I was hoping I was wrong and it was just a male witch." Bill said to Zoey. "I know it sounds weird that I was hoping you would find an infected instead of a survivor, but I'm thinking that a kid that young would only slow us down."  
Zoey lowered her head. "… I was afraid you would say something like that." Then Zoey look Bill directly in the eyes. "But I know that want to bring him along. You could never leave a boy behind in this post-apocalyptic zombie flick. You're a better person than that."  
"I agree with Zoey here." Louis said as he loosened his tie. "If and when we get to safety, we're going to need all the help we can get to repopulate and rebuild humanity."  
"I hate kids."  
"Shut up, Francis." The other three said in unison.

The four looked towards the young boy. He was ripping open the box of 'chicken in a biscuit' that Louis had brought along. "… Alright, fine. We'll bring the kid along" Bill said looking back at Zoey. "But someone is going to have to stay with him at all times. Are you guys okay with that?"

"I would gladly do it." Zoey said. "I'll stay with him."  
"I'm pretty good with kids." Louis said. "And he doesn't look like one of those overly hyperactive ones, either. I can handle that."  
"Fine, then it's settled. We'll bring him along." Bill looked at the kid, who was shaking the box upside down over his mouth, trying to get the last few crumbs. "… _Damn_ that kid was hungry."

Zoey walked over and lowered to his height. "We've decided to bring you with us. Would you mind telling us your name?"

The boy, still clutching to the box, said in a quiet, boyish voice "…Loren."

"Loren? Heh," Francis chuckled "that sure isn't a very manly name, that's for-"

Bill wacked Francis on the back of the head mid-speech. "God damn it, Francis, would you stop being a dick for five minutes? We're in the middle of a crisis."

Zoey took the box out of the boy's hands and set it aside. "Could you tell me what happened here?"

The boy was silent for a while, but then he spoke up. "I guess people thought that a church would be a good place to hide, because a lot of people came here. Mommy and Daddy said it would be a better place than home, so we packed everything and came here. Someone said that we should stay and wait for help from the military. So we stayed. Then they killed them, one by one, day after day. When we first saw the giant-"

"Giant?" Zoey asked.

"I think he means the tank." Bill informed.

"…we knew that they were not coming. Just the day before we were going to all leave, they rushed us in the middle of the night. After that, I was the only one left… the others had sacrificed themselves to save me…"

"Wow, what a story… I only hope my death has such meaning as that…" Bill said, taking his hat off out of respect. "But I have to ask, where were they going?"

"I… dunno… I think they said something about an air force base to the west…"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes… hold on, I think one of them ripped out a page from a map book…" the boy looked under a few of the pews, and then picked up a large sheet of paper. "Here, this line that they drew shows where they all agreed to go. I hope this helps."

Zoey took the map from Loren and brought it over for the others to look at it. "So what do you think? Should we try it?"  
Louis followed the line with his eyes, looking at what they would pass. "I think we can make it on foot. We could leave in the morning and be there by the afternoon."

Francis pointed at a spot on the map. "And I think there should be a safehouse right about there. I think we should go for it."

Bill nodded his head and put his hat back on. "Well, we don't really have much of a choice right now. You heard what happened to the others who stayed. I think we should get going ASAP."

"Wait, how do we know the kid isn't infected?" Francis said pointing at the kid.

"Well, we should give him a full body check. " Bill said casually, puffing a large cloud of smoke from his mouth.

"What? Hell no, not giving that to a kid." Louis said backing away slightly from Bill.

"I can do it." Zoey said raising her hand. "I'll examine his body."

"That's great," Bill said, "you two do that, us three can discuss tactics for getting to the base."

Zoey grabbed the boy's hand and lead him towards the bathroom. "Don't worry, this will be quick."


End file.
